


Defender

by TheGrapeLord



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Galaxy Garrison, Gore, Mild Gore, Post-Episode s07e13, Violence, galra - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 14:41:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17685416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrapeLord/pseuds/TheGrapeLord
Summary: Canon Divergent after season seven, the Paladins went back to do their space stuff while the MFEs were left to clean up the mess, and to try and retake Earth from the continuous raids.





	Defender

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was actually the first fic I've ever written. It's been a year, and I felt like it belonged here. Feel free to tell me what you think about it!

"Just wait until the dust settles, everything will be fine, just wait until the Paladins go back to their space stuff, they'll forget about this planet soon enough."

They didn't. 

James knew this, he knew this so well. He thought of himself as a smart person. Perhaps smarter than the pilots of some of those feline-shaped robots. He knew that the Galra wouldn't stop coming, it was a matter of pride now. This little insignificant mudball stood tall and pushed back the Empire that conquered three quarters of the known universe. Even if shattered, the Galra Empire would have deleted this shameful stain from history. 

It also didn't help that this was the place where their strongest commander died.

"Sendak." James spoke his name to himself as he was cleaning his rifle. Before his past rival, Keith, had taken the Tyrant's life the MFE Pilot only saw the Towering General in two occasions, and he was grateful to have made it back with his skin both times. He wondered what had gone through his mind during the last moments of his life. 

Clack.

The sound of the magazine, safety and scope of the weapon snapping back into place cut short this thoughts as he raised his eyes. Kinkade, Nadia and Veronica were still gearing up while Ina was already revving up the engine. He smiled softly at the sight of the blonde so eager to go into mission, it was endearing to him in some way. 

《Stop staring at her, she'll think you're weirder than you already are.》

The voice in his mind was right, he had already been caught gazing ethereally at her in multiple occasions. And of course, his defence in those cases was denying the evidence and immediately excusing himself for some complete bullshit reason. After all, looking like a dick was by far more preferable than facing the reality of the situation, and suffering the potential outcomes of it. He knew for a fact that if such a thing happened, he'd be the Garrison's laughing stock.

"We received words of Galra raiders running rampant through a nearby settlement we recently freed. It may be pure retaliatory action, but such widespread destruction in such a short amount of time is unlikely even for Galras. For this specific reason, I recommend the utmost care and caution. Our mission is to seek and destroy the raider group, and to seize the unknown weapon they've been using for further examination by the intelligence team. Understood? I won't repeat myself again." James stated, opening the hangar door before hopping onto his vehicle and exiting out into the blistering summer heat. The strong winds and dark clouds gathering off into the horizon promised nothing good, but it'll take more than rain and thunder to bring the MFE pilots to their knees.

As they rode towards the location of their last known appearance, something caught James' attention. There were.. way less scraps and debris than usual. As if the place was cleaned up neatly for their arrival. A looming sense of dread gripped James' soul as he saw one of the Raiders' carcasses dangling from a metal arc that marked the entrance into the settlement. Something was off. This wasn't the way the raiders acted, not even with rival tribes, not even with humans. His thoughts were immediately brushed to the side when a deafening scream lacerated the otherwise dead silence. Accelerating towards the place that dreaded sound came from, Griffin instinctively brought his vehicle in front of Ina's one. As to protect her, in a way. He told himself it was to shield the whole team, but he knew that wasn't the case, not in the slightest. Finally, they reached the source of the shriek. At the centre of the square of what used to be a once flourishing town, tied to a broken, dried up fountain, was a woman. In front of her, two Galra pirates were holding a little kid down, blades pointed to his neck. Luckily for them, they were facing the woman, not the incoming vehicle that, piloted by James and promptly followed by the rest of the team, crudely ran them over. 

James basically jumped out of the vehicle and immediately grabbed the child, almost tossing it to kinkade and yelling at him to get undercover when he realised something.

The child was awfully cold. The skin, the 'muscles' were unnaturally rigid.

A mannequin. The kid was a fucking mannequin.

In fear, he raised his eyes at the woman strapped to the fountain. 'She' was a mannequin as well. His irises and pupils shrunk in horror when he heard a far more recognisable sound. A pulse rifle, several of them charging up. The worst of his fears confirmed in a moment. They weren't raiders, they weren't pirates or deserters, they weren't even 'alive' per say. 

Galra sentries, hundreds of them surrounding the team. They acted rash, and in the end, their aggression was their own undoing. They got themselves into a trap. He did. It was HIS fault, and his fault only.

When he looked back at the team, all of them had already been forced to their knees and disarmed. A pang of pain coursed through his body as he saw the desperation on Ina's face. Veronica cursed quietly in spanish, Ryan lowered his gaze and grunted, and Nadia was struggling under the robotic sentry's steel grasp.

《Wait a minute-》his inner self thought.《Galra Sentries don't act on their own, who programmed them, in such a large number and to do such a complex task, and where are they now? Surely they couldn't have been fa-》

Hsssssssssssssssssssssst.

A loud mechanical huff cut his thoughts short once more. Followed by the sounds of metallic heels hitting on the square's bricks. The sentries simultaneously moved away and brought a hand to their chest, kneeling as the taller figure, completely wrapped into a suit of armour, made its way into the square. The armour itself was nothing like James had ever seen, mainly due to the fact that this figure was significantly smaller than the average Galra warlord, and the armour itself was infinitely more elegant. In any other context, James wouldn't have disdained wearing it. The boots of the armour had propellers glowing a purple light at the end of their calves, and protected up to the knees. From there, a skin-tight suit covered everything up to the groin, aside from two metal guards shielding the thighs. At its waist, a metallic contraption held up a sort of cape that ran back down at knee length, covering the figure's sides and rear. Going up from there, the lower part of its muscular back and sides were left unguarded, covered only by the suit to allow flexibility and nimbleness. The chest, shoulders and forearms were instead covered by dark purple armour. Two small purple lights were on the back of each glove. He remembered seeing a similar design in the recording the paladins had shown of their adventure through space, however something was off. Two tubes ran from a bump in the guarded back of the armour straight into the helmet, seemingly pumping a bright purple liquid into it. The helmet completely covered the person's head, and its visor was pitch black. He huffed again and stepped forth. His movements were rough, quick and the complete opposite of fluid. He almost looked like a remotely controlled marionette. 

"The. Princess."

The figure spoke, his voice coarse and rash, with an unnatural metallic tone to it. 

"The Princess isn't here! She's back into space with the paladins and the Atlas, now let us go!"

The figure remained silent for some time, as if registering the information. He then brought a hand forth, and clenched into a fist as a slim, elegant sword appeared in its grasp.

"The. P r i n c e s s."

"ARE YOU DEAF, SHE'S NOT HERE YOU DUMB ROBOT! SHE'S BACK INTO SPACE! ALLURA IS NOT HERE, SHE'S IN SPACE WITH LANCE!"

Cried out Veronica, before being swiftly knocked out by one of the Sentries. Ina noticed that, rapidly understanding that they were programmed to use non lethal force only. She supposed it was because he intended to use them as hostages in exchange for Allura.

The figure shuddered and flinched, his right hand trembling at the mention of the names, although it was unsure at which of the two it reacted the most.

"Call them. One of you shall perish each hour until the Princess gets here."

James' eyes widened in shock. Sure, he was more than ready to die for his teammates, they were his family. But the others? Ryan and Nadia had other friends at the Garrison and families back at their homes, Veronica's family straight up took residence there, against Iverson's disgruntled protests. And Ina... he couldn't let Ina die. Not for his mistakes, not if he could avoid it. He lowered his gaze, and despite his team's protests, despite their cries on how the paladins, the Princess herself was more important than all of them, he fired up his communicator, sending a distress call to Voltron. In all honesty, he couldn't give less of a shit about the universe, as long as Earth the and people he cared about were safe. As time passed, the storm gathered up, rain pouring violently on them, as lightning fell and thunders crackled like God's Ire raining down on the sinners. Eventually, the time arrived for the clock to strike the first hour, although to the MFE pilots, it felt like eons had passed. No Voltron in sight. James exhaled in defeat, closing his eyes and waiting for the first name to be pronounced. He felt grief and guilt rend his heart asunder, expecting to hear Ryan, Nadia, or even Veronica's voice. Something else erupted in his heart instead when Ina was the one to scream. As she was brought to her knees in front of the mysterious figure, as the figure oh so Robotically raised its arm, James broke from the sentry's grasp and darted towards the figure, picking up a brick and screaming his lungs out as he smashed the stone item violently against the helmet's visor, cracking it and making the figure stumble back in shock. Ina swiftly got back to her feet and ran back to the team as the other two who were still conscious took advantage of the chaos that ensued to free themselves and subdue the guards. Arming themselves, they began fighting the Sentries back to back, protecting the unconscious Veronica in the process.

It took James a while to realise that what he let out wasn't a simple scream. He had yelled her name. He had yelled them not to touch her. The Leader wasted no time and tackled the person to the ground, teeth gritted as he slammed the brick against the visor with relentless force, new cracks appearing upon it the more he brought the brick down. It was only when the visor finally shattered to bits along with parts of the helmet that James flinched, stopping as the rain hit the Figure's lilac skin. The name now rang clear in the boy's head, as Allura's words about him replayed when the Paladins told of their adventures. 

"Lotor. Emperor of the Galra and previous co-leader of the Coalition. Unmatched with a sword and pilot of legendary skill. He was thought of as an ally until we found out that he used Alteans, our own race, to further his own goals. He.. he went mad and tried to destroy us, along with the whole Empire. In the offhand chance that he's still alive and that you meet him, please avoid him at all costs. He's ruthless, extremely dangerous, and now has nothing to lose." 

He recalled how Allura broke into tears shortly after and had to be escorted out of the room. But something was off. Why, if he was such a cunning and elegant rival, were all his motions so... clunky. Why was his voice so strained, different from the ones in the recordings. Why so robotic? 

Why were his eyes closed, as if he was asleep? 

His thoughts were, once again, cut short as the Exiled Emperor managed to toss him away from himself, getting back to his feet and picking up his sword. James' back impacted the fountain and he choked out a scream as he was left winded. Scrambling to his feet, his blurry vision managed to make out only the silhouette of the half galran shambling towards him, dragging the sword behind him like a moving corpse. He heard a confused yell, recognising Ryan's voice and something being tossed his way. He barely managed to get back on his feet and shield himself with the item before Lotor brought his sword down on him, making James fall flat on his ass again. He shook his head and took a better look at the weapon in his hands. Despite its jagged appearance, James was able to recognise it was a sword, similar to the ones many Galra soldiers carried. Steeling himself and his will, he stood back up and rushed at Lotor, swinging his sword upwards and meeting his opponent's blade halfway through it. He let out a raging growl and stepped back, lunging at him again and again. Although relentless, his attacks seemed to be only partially effective, as his opponent parried and blocked every hit sent his way. That is, until he flicked his wrist and sent James off balance with a surprise hit. Now James was the one on the defensive, being swiftly backed into a corner by the Galtean swordsman. If he had to win this fight, he'd have to do so by outsmarting Lotor; so James thought. As he was falling back, he took the time to analyse his opponent well, like Ina would have done. He noticed that, despite the flawless technique he had shown so far, Lotor's eyes were still closed. He also noticed the mask covering his face up to his nose, where the two tubes ended up and where they were pumping the purple liquid. 

《If you manage to cut those, then perhaps we'll be able to defeat him, or at least to incapacitate him.》

James nodded to himself and ducked, throwing a well-aimed punch to the Emperor's groin. As he doubled over, James grabbed the two tubed and put a foot to the man's chest. One pull. The tubes didn't budge. Two pulls, the mask moved lightly. At the third pull, the mask broke and the tubes were ripped away, Lotor's eyes shot open and he fell back gasping for air. As the lights on his suit flickered the sentries fell, deactivated. Turning his back to him, James looked around and raised one of his fists, still clutching one of the tubes.

"We did it Team! We defeated Lo- Gah!"

James choked and spat out blood as Lotor's sword ran through his stomach, lifting him up. He writhed and squirmed as he hopelessly tried to break free. 

He found the answer to his question. What goes through a man's head during their last moments? He could've thought about his childhood. The trailer park he was raised in and the stench of cigarettes that permeated every inch of his mother's roulotte. The awkward visits of his father on the weekends and his dollar store gifts for his birthdays. He could have thought about his Grandma's house and the blueberry pie that always awaited him fresh out of the oven. He could have thought back to the first years at the Garrison, he could have thought about Keith. But he didn't think about any of that. As Lotor hoisted him up on the edge of his sword, Quintessence still clouding his thoughts, he thought about Ina. He thought about how she was the only one who came to visit every time he got detention, he thought about how much her smile made his heart flutter. He thought about how much, really how much he loved her, and how foolish he was not to realise that sooner, to not have told her sooner. Ultimately, he thought about how he couldn't see her with the rest of the team. He was about to close his eyes and accept the Reaper's hand, when a voice sang him back to himself. Truly, it was a scream of rage, but to him it was a choir of angels.

"Don't you touch him you big purple fuck!!!"

Screamed Ina as she rushed at Lotor, stabbing his exposed back with a sharp metal rod she had found laying around. The sword vanished from his hands and James dropped to the ground, where Ina promptly took him into her arms. Tears fell on the boy's face as he mustered up his remaining strength to form a sentence, perhaps the last of his life. 

"Ina.. there's something I have never told you. All this time, since we became pilots, there's something I have never told you."

Ina's cracking voice interrupted him, as she stroke his cheek and held him close to her chest, trying to warm up his body with hers under the pouring rain. 

"Don't talk, please, re-rest.. stay focused on re-resting. Don't waste your breath.. Voltron will be he-" 

 

"I love you, Ina. I always did."

 

The girl gasped in shock, clutching him even tighter as the sound of a distant engine roared in the background above them.

"You...Idiot! I love you as well! Why didn't you tell me sooner! Why didn't you say anything? We could've been together! We could have done so many- mmph!"

James, with the last sliver of his strength, brought his lips to hers, pulling her into a weak, cold yet passionate kiss. And Ina, uncaring of the taste of iron spreading through her mouth, melted into the kiss and gave James the passion he couldn't give her. The sky cleared as the Blue Lion landed behind them, quickly followed by the other four. He let out a sigh as he saw the Paladins and that funny orange-haired man escorting Veronica, Lotor and the rest of the team onto the Lions, and finally passed out as Ina herself secured him into an healing pod, her apprehended expression being the last thing he saw before falling asleep.


End file.
